Yesterday, an Ohio grand jury refused to charge two police officers who shot and killed an innocent man who was in a Walmart, talking on his cell phone as he absently picked up an unloaded Walmart airgun and walked around aisles with it. However, he did violate one major prohibition in society, he did all of this while being black.

A white man who saw this black man in Walmart called 911 and was whipped up in racial fear, lied to 911 and claimed that this man was pointing a rifle at people in the store. The police arrived and within moments, shot him dead.

So that it’s clear how the Open Carry Law works, walking around a store with an unloaded air gun that’s for sale at that store when you’re black allows police to legally murder you. Walking around a store with real and loaded weapons when you’re white is exercising your 2nd Amendment rights.

OKAY

Cause For Justifiable Murder

Ohio is an Open Carry state…for white people that is. If black people want to Open Carry weapons, well, it is understandable that they may deserve being shot by police after all, the supporters of Open Carry didn’t plan on black people carrying rifles too.

It is a painful reminder that Americans continue living in a delusion over the nature of their own society. It would be absurdly funny if it wasn’t so horrible, the belief that America is in a post-racial era.

Throughout America’s existence, racism has never been absent and has always been blatant. It is true that the generations coming up are more colorblind when it comes to race but to think racism is over would require wearing a blindfold and earplugs throughout one’s daily life.

All Americans should be outraged at the exposure of their nation as still being deeply infecyed with racism. One wonders though if the need to view America as better than that, convincing oneself of that delusion, encourages such denial over this reality.

Consider just the last several months, Marlene Pinnock thrown down and brutally beaten by a CHP officer, Eric Garner strangled to death by NYPD officers, Michael Brown shot in cold blood while surrendering by a Ferguson Police officer and now John Crawford III shot dead in a Walmart by Ohio police.

And those are just the most publicized assaults and murders of black people by police in the last several months that we’ve heard of, how many others have happened that haven’t been publicized?

And consider how often the courts decide that white people murdering black people because they’re afraid of them are justifiable homicides…despite the innocence of the victims.

Let’s look at this logically.

a. Racists are afraid of black people.

b. Courts allow the perception of fear as a justification for wrongly shooting someone.

c. Being white and racist justifies the murder of a black person.

If you’re American, it’s high time you accepted this reality: “We regularly kill innocent black people in our country because they are black and find ways to justify their murders.”

It’s a cliche now but can anyone imagine a blonde teenage girl carrying that same air rifle through a Walmart and having 911 called on her, describing her as threatening others then being shot dead almost instantly by police?

Of course not because white people holding guns isn’t as scary as black people holding guns. And why is that? Hmm…well it can’t be because of race since racism in the US is over (SCOTUS Chief Justice John Roberts told me so…as did every right winger on tv and radio). There must be another reason…I’ll figure it out…let me get back to you on that).

Where do we go from here? Just push it out of our minds and allow racism to continue to haunt the lives of black Americans (especially young black men) while touting how wonderful America is? How can America be wonderful when its people just allow the murder of a specific segment of its citizens to continue?

When can we start to see America for what it really is and respond as responsible conscientious people should?

We allow ourselves to be distracted by entertainment and buy into delusions about “America!” while corporations and the wealthy buy off our democracy, while our federal government is ground to a destructive halt, while our incomes and standard of living decline, while our public schools are overcrowded and descend in quality, while our fellow citizens are attacked and murdered just because of their skin color…this is the real America we live in.

The questions are, can we accept seeing our nation for what it really is? And can we rally ourselves out of distraction and apathy to do something profound about confronting and destroying these injustices.

As we plunge deeper into a war to fight ISIS because we see them as a threat to the security and future of the American People, do we have the same resolve to fight the threats to Americans that are right here in our nation and killing our people day after day?

How is racism not the biggest terrorist threat Americans live with day to day? When the odds of innocent Americans being killed by this kind of terrorism are far greater than by ISIS or Al Qaeda, shouldn’t we be making this our greatest priority?

Unfortunately, it is historically the case that Americans don’t deal with problems until they boil over from neglect. By then however, how many more innocent Americans will have their lives taken by police “justifiably” because their skin color was just too dark and scary to allow them to live?

46 Responses so far.

As the largest racial group, Whites commit the majority of crimes in America.

In particular, Whites are responsible for the vast majority of violent crimes. With respect to aggravated assault, Whites lead Blacks 2-1 in arrests; in forcible-rape cases, Whites lead all racial and ethnic groups by more than 2-1. And in larceny theft, Whites lead blacks, again, by more than 2-1.

In the United States, a White person is almost six times more likely to be killed by another White person than by a Black person, according to FBI homicide data. In 2011, there were more cases of Whites killing Whites than there were Blacks killing Blacks.

Most White people don’t kill White people. Yet media pundits have no problem using the phrase “Black on Black violence” despite the fact that most Black people don’t kill Black people.

When the news shows talk about gang-related deaths, they treat it as an almost exclusively Black problem. However, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, from 1980 to 2008, 53.3 percent of gang homicides were committed by White offenders, and the majority of gang homicide victims 56.5 percent were White.

Media and policymakers — on all parts of the spectrum — have been equally complicit in promoting a “Black-on-Black crime” anecdote, using incidents to “explain” the community’s problems.

It serves, in a practical sense, to justify and even mandate racial profiling, and promotes a disproportionate policing of Black criminality as “legitimate” and “acceptable.”

This over-policing has led to disproportionately higher rates of arrests in Black communities, reinforcing the idea that Blacks commit more crimes.

The media in general, and White American society in particular (read Yahoo News for details on this…), focus on crime perpetrated by African Americans because it serves as a way to explain away violence, prejudice, and institutionalized discrimination engendered for generations against Blacks.

Michael, there you go again. With all those pesky facts and all that truth!

Seriously, thank you so much for this valuable information — much of which I had never known. (Wonder why this sort of stuff is not readily accessible…. Hmmmm…. 😳 )

We still have such a long way to go when it comes to issues of race in this country. And calm, reasoned and accurate statements like this help us to keep some forward momentum going in an uphill battle.

While it is fun,(a bit anyway) to post and read others who feel the same about issues, the most fun I have had since HP folded their tents and sold out is on the Faux No News website. I know that feels like being a traitor, but wow can you ever get those hornets stirred up.

Nirek, that was the way it was for many years. Gunmakers now skirt around the restrictions against automatic weapons, the semi-automatics now are fast in firing that the restrictions are kind of pointless.

As things like this continue to happen and are exposed, the consciousness of those who actually understand right and wrong will be raised. Thanks for posting this. I dislike seeing anyone get shot by police, but this man was given every opportunity unlike the black victims we have seen who were unarmed some with their hands raised in surrender. This is crazy, and this BS really does have to stop.

I am noticing this new generation being color blind.Which is a great step.But those tooth optional in the south still and forever waiting “The South shall Rise again”?????When the heck did they succeed???? You guy should have allowed them to secede by then.For now, they would have succumbed to their ignorance and poverty.

Great comment, AdLib,
There are several things that I wonder about when I read of these senseless killings.
1. The fact that gun control is out of control. States, usually Red states allow “open carry,” do not have background checks, and elected representatives do not have the political will to correct these foolish laws…not even to save the lives of children. Why is that?

2. I wonder about the mindset of these police officers, their training, their culture as authority figures, and if they undergo mental evaluations.

3. As well, I wonder what the ratio of blacks killing police officers vs whites killing police officers. I cannot find anything that would imply blacks killing police officers is so common place that the police have to react instantaneously when confronting blacks.

Well written article, and I have to also shout out to RSG music citing his concerns over the gun culture. We have all agreed that the NRA and other pro-gun lobbyists have needlessly ginned up the fear factor to boost gun sales and memberships and to make their lobbying efforts more effective. What is ironic is that now police officers must treat any interaction with the public as a potentially armed interaction.
This does not excuse any of these episodes of violence. However, it does explain why police officers have stopped treating citizens as citizens, but as felons--except for the nuts who are practicing open carry as a political statement--those people get treated with kid gloves, when they should be hauled off for psychiatric observation.
Part of the police training is the shouting of demands in order to keep the suspect disoriented and to test the po’s control over the situation. WTF did the cop expect when he yelled at the guy to get his licence? The guy was either going to reach in his back pocket or into the car, either motion would seemingly have gotten him shot.
I am dismayed, I have no answer. .

There is no American above the age of fifty who has any reason to be surprised. One of Richard Pryor’s bits on his 1974 album THAT N****ER’S CRAZY was about being pulled over and cavity-searched while on a date. Another was relating to the police (white vs black). Things didn’t change much in the 40 years since the album was released.

And perhaps they never changed at all. Yes, we have a president who’s black, but fully as put upon by threats and disparagement as Jackie Robinson was when he went pro in the 1940’s. And now we have pictures of the way police behave with people of color. Rodney King’s beating went ‘viral’ on network news 22 years ago, but my guess is the LAPD still behave this way and get away with it. Can we at least start to work on common ground here? My lefty friends are appalled by the militarization of the cops--can that be folded into a larger demand for genuine policing instead of police behaving as an army of occupation?

Where does all of this come from? How have we arrived at this point in this nation? When will we begin to face the facts about this nation, this government, the people who live here etc. Noam Chomsky sums it up very well IMHO.

A sad coincidence today, video was revealed of ANOTHER cop shooting an innocent unarmed black man. He was told to get his ID and when he reached into his car for his wallet, he was shot at then the cop continued to shoot after he raised his hands in the air (sound familiar?).

The lesson here, obeying the police can be as deadly as not obeying them. So if you’re black and stopped by a cop…what do you do?

While watching this, one can only imagine that if the Ferguson Police had cameras on themselves, that the shooting of Michael Brown might have looked frightening similar (especially since the eyewitnesses all seem to agree on what happened).

At least they arrested the crazy bugger. Terrifying to watch. The graphic you used in this article leaves me feeling speechless and clammy. What country is that taken in? Colombia? Syria? Iraq?

I posted a link to this Walmart horror story on MB this morning and after watching the video of the young black guy on his cell phone being shot, I just couldn’t compute why he had been shot. Then to learn that those officers got off without being charged was just too shocking to believe.

I think that the 911 caller should be charged with Hate Crime and Murder. This might cause people to pause a moment before panicking and making wild allegations. At least he or she should be charged with incitement to violence or giving false information to police .

And since when does a person chatting on a mobile phone constitute such an imminent danger to life that he needs to be gunned down in seconds?

Spot on PPO!! What you have just said covers the reason those of us who have to live in this nation, in this world with a darker hue to our skin have realized almost since birth.

This is a better video of what happened along with the 911 call

I agree with you, this person who made the 911 call should be arrested and charged for causing the murder of an innocent man. Not only did he cause the death of Crawford but also a woman who was in the store with her children…she died of cardiac arrest from the incident. I can’t believe these police officers were not charged. They could have at least engaged this person with conversation before shooting at him. They could have fired a warning shot and they could have listened to what he was saying, “It’s not real, it’s not real.” I don’t know who is training the police in this nation these days but believe me whoever they are, they need to be fired, it appears they are training them for combat rather than to protect and serve.

This reverse psychology points out just how ridiculous what is happening in this nation is. Fear has become the dominant factor in law enforcement, through organizations like ALEC and others, the law has been bent to allow those who fear others the opportunity to take their lives whenever they feel threatened. Talking about an insane place to live these days, America is becoming worse, not better. A study I read recently names the top 10 most racist states in the U.S. and tells why:

How does anyone begin to tackle this subject? We all of us in America, and most people around the world have bought into this thing called racism. It has allowed some to be born with privilege while others are born into a life of strife. Racism is a mental illness, and it has been passed down from generation to generation, it is not a natural occurrence. We, many of us when we see incidents like those you have spoken about become outraged, begin to wonder why, start having feelings of concern for the African American population and human beings in general. Those feelings don’t last, and often those feelings are not genuine. I for instance have known many “friends” who have been what a friend should be until an incident concerning race takes place. Generally those friends with lighter skin begin to form their group and agree on an opinion, those with darker skin begin to form their group and opinion, and those in the middle are left trying to decide which group they should side with. This is an illness, this is something that has been taught through our schools, our media, our churches, and all of the supposedly “good, well meaning” organizations throughout our lives. We need to begin with the new generations, our children by allowing them to see punishment for racist behavior present and past. If we don’t do that we can forget ever trying to right the wrongs of the past, and we can also forget ever being mentally and emotionally healthy in the future.

I like this video about race in America so if you are interested, watch it and tell me what you think:

Until we right the wrongs that have been prevalent in this nation since the writing of the constitution we will never see a difference. I do know that there is an old saying “What goes around comes around.” A rough definition for this is the following:

What(ever) goes around, comes around.
Prov. The results of things that one has done will someday have an effect on the person who started the events. So he finally gets to see the results of his activities. What goes around, comes around. Now he is the victim of his own policies. Whatever goes around comes around.

I hope those that are perpetuating this inhumane behavior for wealth, for privilege, for evilness or whatever the reason will soon reap the whirlwind.

Only those tremendously ignorant/illiterate -- even if they have a PhD, are racists failing dramatically biology and evolution classes.We ALL came from Africa. Period.Great video.Monica Angela.But as well, don’t forget the byebull promoted it extensively..

The interpretation of the old testament for purposes of those who were in power promoted it, the Old Testament is a story for the times in which it was written, and it is an interpretation that has been translated by those that would be the ones in control. The Bible was not written in English, and IMHO was not meant to be interpreted literally. It is one of the best selling books because it can be used to subdue the masses, well those that believe in the literal interpretation of it.

You stand correct. As I am able to read/speak several languages, one of the most hideous translations were done by King James bible.I’ve certainly took my time -- rather boring one, I must confess -- to study and compare it to the Latin version.Besides, the old testament was a copy of the Mithra book.Based on paganism….

Major hit here, no pun intended. When I was campaigning door to door to President Obama second term, we were in a rather white neighborhood where the majority of lawn signs were for MittRobme but there were also, some for Obama.We always gather in 3/4 and never, ever alone. I knocked at a guy’s door wearing the pin et al and the guy threatened us to shoot us all for voting the n*****r in…
It is very very sad…..and why do these “men” (SIC) are so in love and love to show off their scary guns? Is it a Freudian projection on the southern hemisphere? And yes we were all white so nobody got shot.How can the DA not take these criminals to trial?????Sharing.BTW Home Depot close to my house, decided for a non open carry policy.I have never been to any store, anywhere in the globe, where I could see any gun nut , insane sociopath showing off their “manhood”.(SIC)